52 Weeks (2009)

If you still don't know the story behind Into It. Over It. by now, well, that's what introductions are for. Damiera bassist Evan Weiss felt a bit lackadaisical after the majority of two years were spent not doing a whole lot creatively or musically. Weiss set out to make up for it tenfold, writing and recording an original song on his birthday week, and then doing the same every week until his next birthday. Naturally, 52 Weeks collects every one of those songs, remixed and remastered for coherent form and flow.

The package that results is an overwhelmingly long (two hours and change) but nonetheless enjoyable collection of late `90s / early-aughts emo-influenced indie rock/pop jams. Frankly, a shitload of this sounds like Piebald, notably the more full-band stuff, where Weiss plays every instrument (and happens to sound a bit like Travis Shettel) -- proof positive in bouncy cuts on Disc 1 like "Heartificial," "Fak It," "Ashley's Big Adventure" ("I'm running late for work!") and "Friday at Brian's (I Have to Be Up in Four Hours)." But a musician as prolific as Weiss could do worse to look somewhere for musical inspiration, while lyrically, these songs tend to revolve around what's going on in his life that week, as one might guess. "Dude-A-Form," which was released in early May, has to be about Weiss attending (playing?) The Bamboozle in East Rutherford, NJ with an opening narrative of "Stretched across five miserable miles of parking lot are what seem to be the worst haircuts on Earth and 'Yo dudes' talking in condescending tones (with Neanderthal dance moves) at what's hardly a punk show." It's also got some of the best, most invigorating melodies of the two-disc set, save "Afternoons Asleep." Things also blend well in "Open a Book," which stirs up memories of older Criteria a bit.

Besides the full-band ventures, there are a bunch of more stripped-down acoustic ventures, many of those kinda resembling Death Cab for Cutie (think "A Lack of Color," though not quite as successful). Some of those include "ATM Disaster Scenes" and the boasting but perfectly fluttering "Gear Isn't Expensive." They seem a little more prevalent on Disc 2, though, as a bunch take on that structure: "53% Accurate"; the ever-present pick sliding of "New Careers"; "Starched and Hung"; and "...And I Bite My Nails." This particular disc ends with the sole electric guitar strum and Weiss vocal pairing for the meta-tastic "No Chorus": "I've spent a year's worth of my time. / No chorus, / no five-dollar rhymes."

As long as 52 Weeks is and as muted as the production sometimes feels, this is a pleasant, definitively enjoyable collection from a musician who proves that quantity and quality aren't necessarily respective ideas.